July 19, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 18: The opposition parties are not very hopeful about the outcome of the proposed government-opposition talks on the Legal Framework Order (LFO), interviews with various leaders revealed on Friday.

Leaders belonging to the component parties of the combined opposition, when contacted, said they were not very optimistic about the talks success as they believed that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was not in a position to make any commitment on the main contentious issues, including the National Security Council and the president’s uniform.

The opposition parties were found divided over the issue of holding direct talks with the president. The PML-N said it would not hold talks with Gen Pervez Musharraf, come what may. The MMA, on the other hand, showed its readiness as, according to it, Gen Musharraf was the only one who was in a position to take decisions. The PPP said it would consult the ARD and the combined opposition before taking any decision in this regard.

PPP’s Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar termed the fresh talks offer by the prime minister “a mere eyewash”, saying the government just wanted to gain time.

Mr Babar, however, said the opposition parties did not want to take the blame on their shoulders for the talks failure, so they had again accepted the talks offer.

He said during the previous round of talks, the opposition showed maximum flexibility, but it was the government which ran away from the dialogue process.

This time too, he said, the opposition was showing maximum flexibility and the prime minister had himself admitted this fact during talks with newsmen on Thursday.

He once again reiterated the party’s stand that the LFO could not become part of the Constitution.